1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to animal husbandry and more particularly to an apparatus and method for storing and dispensing food products for consumption by animals. The invention further relates to an apparatus having a housing for long term storage of food coupled to a motor powered measuring and dispensing means which deposits predetermined portions of food in a container or location for consumption by an animal.
2. Background
Modern day animal feed products, including those intended for domesticated dogs, cats, and similar animals, are capable of being stored in a "open air" environment for extended periods of time. Because of the ability to survive for long periods of time, these foodstuffs can be left in large containers for continuous, or occasional, consumption by an animal. This can prove especially useful for domesticated "household pets" which are left alone for extended periods of time, such as when owners are at work, on vacations, or traveling. However, it is readily apparent to any animal owner or raiser, that an unlimited supply of food is not viewed as such by the animal. That is, the animal tends to gorge itself on the food presented either through instinct, or lack of training. The animal assumes that this food is the short term supply presented by the owner and that more food will be available. Therefore, when exposed to a large supply of food, the typical animal consumes most of it in short order and does not ration the food over the long term it is really meant for.
Another drawback in leaving a large supply of food exposed is that while it lasts through long term storage in a "dry state" , a significant amount of moisture such as through rain or "splash over" shortens the storage time. Moisture breaks down the dry food and causes it to spoil in short order, or causes it to assume an appearance or texture that the animal finds unpleasant and, therefore, will not eat.
In order to solve these above problems various machines or devices have been proposed and built for dispensing dried foodstuffs over an extended period of time and in predetermined quantities.
Exemplary devices for dispensing food for consumption by animals are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,528,588, 3,648,660, and 3,340,851. These patents disclose the use of a variety of rotary mechanisms for transferring predetermined amounts of food from a storage container to a consumption location. While each of these devices address the food dispensing process for animals in general, they have several inherent limitations such as being driven by very powerful rotary motor mechanisms which can hurt children playing around such machines. Other drawbacks include the inability to handle large amounts of food without clogging or jamming, a high cost of manufacture, and complicated and hard to maintain structures that are not very portable.
Therefore, what is needed is an apparatus that is simple to construct, reasonably lightweight, and very safe to operate in a highly mobile and household pet environment.